A frontal boundary slowly pushed through northeast Minnesota producing numerous thunderstorms. At least one storm, near Babbitt, became severe and produced large hail.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS DLH wrote it up.
A frontal boundary slowly pushed through northeast Minnesota producing numerous thunderstorms. At least one storm, near Babbitt, became severe and produced large hail.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 9, 3:56 PM CST, 26 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...MESOSCALE UPDATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 456 PM CDT WED JUL 9 2008 .MESOSCALE UPDATE...CONCERNING SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL THROUGH 8 PM... A RATHER DECENT ENVIRONMENT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAS DEVELOPED OVER NORTHERN MINNESOTA IN ADVANCE OF APPROACHING MID LEVEL SHORT WAVE TROF AXIS EVIDENT IN WV SAT IMAGERY OVER SE MANITOBA. WHILE MLCAPE VALUES ARE ON THE ORDER OF 1000 J/KG PER THE SPC MESOANALYSIS PAGE..EVIDENCE FROM FORECAST SOUNDINGS/TAMDAR DATA AND LATEST SFC/RADAR OBS SEEMS TO INDICATE THAT REALIZED CAPE MAY ACTUALLY SEVERAL HUNDRED J/KG GREATER. IN ADDITION..STEEP LOW LEVEL LAPSE RATES ARE LEADING TO A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF CAPE BELOW 3 KM AND FREEZING LEVELS ARE QUITE LOW FOR MID JULY. DEEP LAYER SHEAR ON THE ORDER OF 50 KTS IS MORE THAN SUFFICIENT FOR ORGANIZED STORMS AND SUPERCELLS GIVEN THE AVAILABLE INSTABILITY..AND THIS IS CONFIRMED BY THE LATEST KDLH VOLUMETRIC Z/V DATA REVEALING ONE SMALL SUPERCELL JUST NORTH OF TOWER AND ANOTHER JUST SOUTH OF BLACKDUCK. GIVEN APPROACHING WAVE/FORCING..IT APPEARS THAT STORMS SHUD PERSIST FOR AT LEAST 2-3 MORE HOURS BEFORE DIMINISHING IN INTENSITY TOWARD SUNSET. GIVEN THE LOW FREEZIGN LEVELS..LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE PRIMARY SEVERE THREAT..ESPECIALLY WITH ANY SUPERCELLS WHERE QUARTER TO GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL IS POSSIBLE. STEEP LOW LEVEL LAPSE RATES ALSO INDICATE A WIND DAMAGE THREAT WITH THE STRONGER STORMS. FINALLY..WHILE THE TORNADO THREAT APPEARS LOW..A NARROW AXIS OF SIGNIFICANT LOW LEVEL CAPE/SURFACE VORTICITY AND SFC-1 KM SHEAR FROM 10-20 KTS EXISTS FROM NEAR KINL SEWD TO THE ELY AREA..AND IT IS NOT ENTIRELY OUT OF THE QUESTION THAT THE STRONGEST UPDRAFTS MAY BE ABLE TO GENERATE A WEAK SPIN UP OR TWO THROUGH AROUND 00Z. MILLER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 337 PM CDT WED JUL 9 2008 MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009-101030- KOOCHICHING-NORTHERN ST. LOUIS-NORTHERN COOK/NORTHERN LAKE- NORTHERN ITASCA-CENTRAL ST. LOUIS-SOUTHERN LAKE/LAKESHORE- SOUTHERN COOK/LAKESHORE-NORTHERN CASS-SOUTHERN ITASCA- SOUTHERN CASS-CROW WING-NORTHERN AITKIN-SOUTHERN AITKIN- CARLTON/SOUTHERN ST. LOUIS-PINE-DOUGLAS-BAYFIELD-ASHLAND-IRON- BURNETT-WASHBURN-SAWYER-PRICE- 337 PM CDT WED JUL 9 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MINNESOTA AND NORTHWEST WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE INTERNATIONAL BORDER REGION AND MOVE TOWARDS THE RANGE BY EARLY EVENING. SOME STORMS MAY PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS ALL OF THE NORTHLAND THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK THAT SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THURSDAY AND/OR FRIDAY. LSZ121-140>148-101030- BAYFIELD TO OAK POINT WI-GRAND PORTAGE TO GRAND MARAIS MN- GRAND MARAIS TO TACONITE HARBOR MN- TACONITE HARBOR TO SILVER BAY HARBOR MN- SILVER BAY HARBOR TO TWO HARBORS MN-TWO HARBORS TO DULUTH MN- DULUTH MN TO PORT WING WI-PORT WING TO SAND ISLAND WI- SAND ISLAND TO BAYFIELD WI-OAK POINT TO SAXON HARBOR WI- 337 PM CDT WED JUL 9 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE NEARSHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING ACROSS MOST OF NORTHWESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR....GENERALLY NORTH OF TWO HARBORS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS ALL OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR THURSDAY THROUGH EARLY SATURDAY. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK THAT SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. CANNON
The Duluth radar (KDLH), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:22 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Quarter sized hail was reported along |Highway 21, mainly between Babbitt and Ely, with some minor accumulation.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, July 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 128405.